1. The Position of Bp. Kirykos Regarding Re‐Baptism
Differs From the Position of Bp. Matthew of Bresthena
When Bp. Kirykos receives New Calendarists, Florinites, ROCOR
faithful, etc, under his omophorion, he insists on rebaptising them even if
they had already been baptized in the correct form of triple immersion and
invocation of the Holy Trinity. He insists on doing this due to his belief that
he is the only valid bishop left on earth and that anyone baptized out of
communion with him, even if baptized in the correct form, is in need of re‐
baptism by his hands. But was this the position of Bp. Matthew of Bresthena?
In 1937, Bp. Matthew of Bresthena issued an Encyclical in which he
declared the following:
“…We knock against the slander that supposedly we re‐baptize or
request the repetition of the service of marriage. We request only, according to
our sacred obligation, as Genuine Orthodox Christians, to follow the Sacred
Ecclesiastical Tradition, and according to which, we must guide the faithful
towards salvific pastures, and thus to those approaching the Genuine
Orthodox Church, those who are of age we receive by libellus, as for the
children which were baptized by Schismatics, we re‐chrismate them according
to the 1st Canon of St. Basil the Great.”
So there you have it. Bishop Matthew of Bresthena adhered to the
correct practice of the Second and Quinisext Ecumenical Councils, and of St.
Basil the Great, whereby he received New Calendarist converts to his Synod
only by chrismation, and sometimes only by mere libellus, because the
converts had already received the correct form of baptism. This clearly correct
method is that practiced today by the Kiousis Synod, Makarios Synod,
Nicholas Synod, Gregorians, Maximites, HOCNA, Tikhonites, Valentinites,
ROCIE, etc. Almost every Old Calendarist Synod adheres to the Patristic use
of receiving Orthodox converts by chrismation. Thus all of these Synods
prove by their methods to be truly “Matthewite,” since they adhere to Bishop
Matthew’s practice. Only Bp. Kirykos has fallen from this principle and has
ignored the Patristic Matthewite approach, by beginning to “re‐baptize” those
who are already baptized in the canonical form of triple immersion!